would start to leave a vacuum and a vulnerability to the afghan government that would be filled by taliban for sure and could result in an afghanistan that we found before the turn of this century. >> so you would recommend against it. >> if i were still in office, yes, i would. i think there's potential there in afghanistan to make the place a lot more secure with afghan forces, but it's going to take more time than we have currently. >> why do you think the white house may see it differently? >> i think part of it is there's always tension between getting afghans to take responsibility for their own actions and making sure they're doing all they can and not overly relying on u.s. and allied forces. so i think part of what we're seeing is playing out probably in the media here is to put some pressure on the karzai government to be realistic about their expectations and make sure that the afghans are doing all they can to ensure their own security. >> what might come out of a karzai visit? >> well, i would hope one of the things that would come out of it is some sort of agreement on what s